Inked Vibes Slimline Review

Inked Vibes Slimline

Disclaimer: In return for my frank review, Desire and Pleasure supplied me with a free Inked Vibe Slimline. To embigge, click any picture.

♦ The Inked Vibe Slimline, made by California Exotic Novelties (Cal Ex), is a “tattooed” hard plastic vibrator sold by Desire and Pleasure, the sex toy selling branch of UK sexual health charity The Family Planning Association (FPA). The FPA have a very long and respected history as a sex-related charity in this country, so I was very intrigued by their decision to launch Desire and Pleasure and honoured to work with them.

Inked Vibes Slimline
Inked Vibes Slimline

The Inked Vibe comes with a view-through front window in a plastic box, and rests inside the vibrator in a transparent plastic insert. The box includes some data about the toy’s size and material and its features, but spends most of its moment burning my retinas in a garish manner. It’s fairly tacky-looking for a box that has no 80s female soft-porn on. There doesn’t seem to be any data about what batteries the toy takes anywhere, but it turns out to be C, which is strong to get hold of but a bit awkward.

Twisting the end off the toy inserts the batteries. Inside the vibrator is the cardboard-lined battery compartment. Now, this is to muffle the batteries ‘ noise inside the case as the vibrations rattle them, but it still looks fairly poor-quality.

I wasn’t even sure at first whether or not I was supposed to remove the cardboard as it didn’t make it clear that you should maintain it at any stage. Poor quality or not, keep it as the toy without it is supposedly much more noisy. The toy is not precisely discreet, as it is, and may bring some individuals off, but it could not be heard through the door of my bedroom.

The Inked Vibe is produced of ABS plastic and is a seamless design, but much larger, shaped like a classic bullet vibrator. It is basically a tough plastic tube that reaches a point in the style of a bullet. At the end there is the cap of the battery and the dial used to run the vibrator. The controls are very easy: twist the dial to turn it on and up, twist it back to do the other way around. It’s multi-speed as you turn the dial, with a gradual rise from low to elevated.

The dimensions of the Inked Vibe are that it is 8′′ long (with the insertable around 6.75′′). At its widest, it is 1.25′′ in diameter, reaching a tight but not too poky tip. Because it’s made of ABS plastic, because of its firmness, the Inked Vibe Slimline feels larger. It’s not quite as “slimline” as it claims to be, and I was definitely quite overwhelmed at first sight by its size for one, although I definitely had a larger one. However, as I say, the plastic’s inflexibility makes it punch over its weight.

My Inked Vibe is black, but the white and pink toy comes as well. The toy’s shaft is emblazoned with the layout of an old school tattoo. The white comes in a distinct shape (a snake and a skull), but the pastel pink shares the same design as the black one: a cross, heart and anchor juxtaposed with a ribbon like a blank parchment.

This is the toy’s primary selling point quite obviously because, let’s be frank, the Inked Vibe Slimline is really just a standard bog, fundamental, classic vibrator style with a cool-looking tattoo on it. However, the cool looking tattoo is cool. If you’re like I’m a fan of old-school tattoo flash, rockabilly, psychobilly, 50s chic and/or roller derby, you’ll probably enjoy this toy’s tattoo look. The colors, particularly on the black background, are bright and the art has an attitude. It looks quite nice.

I was somewhat concerned about the scratching off design, even though it feels safe under a coating layer. I wasn’t able to scratch my nails, but the scratch-with – a-pen exam failed and it also chipped my teeth with a very light graze. I scarcely tried it. So while I believe the tattoo design is unlikely to come off in ordinary use, be very cautious if it gets close to pointy or metal objects like buckles of restraint and also when washing it 1. In any event, if the structure gets damaged, the region becomes simple to scratch with fingernails and for hygiene purposes you will probably want to replace this toy.

When it comes to washing this toy, its producers call the Inked Vibe “waterproof.” Lol, there’s no. I shut the end cap (which comes with an O-ring of rubber in an effort to maintain moisture out) as tightly as I could and put it in the sink of my bathroom. In an effort to simulate ordinary use, I switched it on for a little while, switched it off, wiped the outside dry and opened the battery compartment. That’s what I’ve seen: honestly? A rubber O-ring and the battery compartment still receives a lot of water? Enough to soak the cardboard on a good half of its circumference right down to 1.5cms 2? If, no matter how much or how little, water is in your battery compartment, your toy is NOT waterproof. If you tried to use it in the tub, especially if you used it frequently in water, I’d be very worried about this toy shortness or otherwise fail.

IN USE

The Inked Vibe Slimline is a fairly fresh experience for me as in my wanking-youth I never had a classic plastic vibrator. The toy’s firmness and straight shape make it an exciting and not always helpful combination. I found that I couldn’t use the toy sitting on the top of my chair internally, as I do sometimes, and that I could just get comfortable on my back. That’s because the toy has no gift and as a ruler it’s really straight. Otherwise, insertion is simple thanks to the Inked Vibe’s soft surface and there is really no drag to talk about.

It feels large and I really liked to push it, feeling it opening me up on the inward push and letting my pussy narrow again as it pulls out. It’s a very pleasurable feeling that has made the difficult material even more noticeable. Despite the numerically narrow girth, size fans may get more out of it than they originally expected.

You can also clitorally use the Inked Vibe (although not anally owing to absence of flared base) and for that it performs very well. The shape’s hardness is much more of a blessing than a curse here as it transmits the vibrations very well and, if you so wish, enables higher pressure. You can even use the toy’s pointed end to create a more accurate feeling. I’d say it’s certainly a dual-purpose toy that operates on the clit just as well as on the inside.

As far as vibrations are concerned, they begin decently and only get better from there, working at the top velocity to be very strong. It’s definitely enough to fulfill me, and I would definitely call it a fairly strong vibrator. With stupid C batteries, you would hope so. The vibrations aren’t just buzzy, but neither are they rumbly. However, they are more than surface-level and appear to be a kind of half-way house between rumble and buzz. Helpfully, both externally and internally, the tough plastic transmits them very well.

Unhelpfully, I can’t demonstrate you a video of the vibration of the Inked Vibe as I would usually, as it’s crapped on me. It worked very well and just as I would have hoped for the first four or five uses, but it doesn’t work correctly now. And the batteries are not. Instead of switching on and working up the vibration velocities slowly, the Inked Vibe lies quietly as I turn the dial up to the very last millimeter and then goes on at complete force. As long as you keep it in place, it turns off again if you let go. Thank God the greatest setting functions at all or by now I’d throw it in the bin.

CONCLUSION

The California Exotics Inked Vibe Slimline is a deceptive lesson for me to meet my highest aspirations. I’m going to be frank here, I heard the name of California Exotics and thought of bad quality right away. And with a scratchable structure (although not as easy to scratch as it might be), a “waterproof” seal that allows the battery compartment to soak several centimeters of dense card in sufficient water and a speed dial (at best) that stops working after less than half a dozen uses, the Inked Vibe Slimline seems to me to be of very low quality. So, if you buy it from Desire and Pleasure: make sure it doesn’t rub against anything pointy, keep it away from water, don’t feed it after midnight, and hope against hope it doesn’t have the same mine gremlins. ♦